Clustered instrument panel in a transportation apparatus

ABSTRACT

A clustered instrument panel on a display of a dashboard in a transportation apparatus is disclosed. The clustered instrument panel may be used to combine multiple individual instrument panels, such as the odometer, tachometer, temperature meter, battery meter, navigation screen and any other instrument panels that are traditionally presented separate and independent from other instrument panels. The individual instrument panels may be layered on top of each other to form the clustered instrument panel, with gradual increase in size from the first instrument panel to the nth instrument panel. Information associated with a given instrument panel in the clustered instrument panel may be presented in the gap area between the given instrument panel and the neighbor instrument panel in the clustered instrument panel. In one embodiment, the clustered instrument panel is a triple-circle meter.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. Nonprovisionalapplication Ser. No. 14/967,380, filed Dec. 14, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No.9,616,751, issued Apr. 11, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S.Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 14/854,052, filed Sep. 15, 2015, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,610,841, issued Apr. 4, 2017, the entire disclosures ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to instrument panels in a transportationapparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Communication of various vehicle parameters to a driver is throughinstrument panels, such as a tachometer, a speedometer, an odometer, atrip odometer, a fuel indicator, a temperature indicator, and variousindicators (e.g., maintenance, brake, oil change, tire pressure, door,airbag, seat belt and other indicators). A conventional instrument paneltypically includes a round assembly having a pointing hand that providesan indication of a current reading of a vehicle parameter—e.g., speed,fuel level, rotation speed of the engine (RPM), current trip distance,total distance in the lifetime of the vehicle, engine temperature,temperature inside the vehicle.

Conventionally, placement of instrument panels in a vehicle is typicallyfixed with each instrument panel being separate and independent fromeach other. For example, speed information is conveyed through aspeedometer separate and independent from the RPM information conveyedthrough a tachometer. Thus, a round assembly representing thespeedometer is typically placed in the center of instrument display arearight in front of the driver and the tachometer is typically placed onthe left side of the instrument display area.

A few drawbacks are associated with the separate and independentplacement of the conventional instrument panels. First, certain types ofvehicle, such as motorcycle or scooter, have fairly limited space forthe instrument display area. Communication of other information forthose types of vehicle becomes a challenge when speed, fuel, battery andRPM panels already occupy their designated spaces on the instrumentdisplay area. Second, vehicle driving is increasingly embodied ininformation communication to the driver(s) and passenger(s) of thevehicle. For example, entertainment information in a video screen on thedashboard of the vehicle is more and more desired by the driver(s) ofthe vehicle, and so are notifications regarding incoming text and calls,information regarding area(s) the vehicle is traveling in, environmenttemperature, etc. With more and more of such information is desired, itis a challenge to present all of such information on the dashboard whenvarious instrument panels have already occupy a sizeable amount of spaceon the driver side dashboard.

Developments in liquid crystal display (LCD) technology have madefree-form display on a dashboard a reality. Equipped with the newfree-form display technology, a LCD screen can be snipped and shaped tofit virtually any layout design on a dashboard and to fill the entiresurface area of the dashboard. The free-form display's flexibility makesit possible to integrate every necessary monitor or gauge, fromspeedometer to odometer, into a single instrument panel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a clustered instrumentpanel in a transportation apparatus is disclosed. Individual instrumentpanels representing speedometer, tachometer, odometer, temperature-meter(e.g., engine or environment), various indicators and any otherinstrument panels may be combined to be layered on top of each other toform the clustered instrument panel. In some embodiments, N number ofinstrument panels may be arranged on a same center point graduallyincreasing in size, with the first instrument panel being smallest insize and the Nth instrument panel being largest in size. Informationassociated with each of the N number of instrument panels may bepresented in the gap areas of the instrument panels. For example,information associated with third instrument panel may be presented atthe gap area between the third and second instrument panels; andinformation associated with Nth information panel may be presented inthe gap area between Nth and (N−1)th instrument panels. Informationassociated with the first information panel may be presented inside thefirst information panel. In some embodiments, the clustered instrumentpanels are concentric rings. In one embodiment, a triple-circle meterformed by three concentric rings presents three sets of information.Compared with the traditional instrument panels, the clusteredinstrument panel in accordance with the disclosure may compact severalinstrument panels into one combined display and thus save display realestate on the dashboard.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, a user of thetransportation apparatus (e.g., the driver) may be enabled to configurethe clustered instrument panel. For example, the user may be enabled tocombine the speedometer, battery meter, and the environment climatemeter into one triple-circle meter for presentation on the dashboard.Subsequently, the user may be enabled to reconfigure the triple-circlemeter to include the speedometer, tachometer, and a notification screen.Such flexible configuration of display of instrument panels enables theuser to decide a logical and convenient display of driving informationfor presentation in the clustered instrument panel.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art based on the following drawings and detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 generally illustrates one embodiment of a clustered instrumentpanel in a transportation apparatus in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 2 generally illustrates the clustered instrument panel shown inFIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates one example of a clustered instrument panel inaccordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary interface facilitating the user(s) ofthe transportation apparatus to configure the clustered instrument panelshown in FIG. 1 to add one or more instrument panels.

FIG. 4B illustrates an exemplary interface facilitating the user(s) ofthe transportation apparatus to configure the clustered instrument panelshown in FIG. 1 to remove one or more instrument panels.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary interface facilitating the user(s) ofthe transportation apparatus to arrange the position of the individualinstrument panels included in the clustered instrument panel shown inFIG. 1.

FIG. 6 generally illustrates a block diagram of a processor configuredto effectuate the clustered instrument panel in accordance with oneembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of the components shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 illustrates one exemplary method for configuring a clusteredinstrument panel in accordance with the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 generally illustrates one embodiment of a clustered informationpanel in a transportation apparatus 100 in accordance with thedisclosure. Examples of transportation apparatus 100 may include avehicle such as a car, a motorcycle, a scooter, a bus, a train, a truck,a tram, or any other type of vehicle; may include a vessel such as aboat, a ship, a barge, a ferry or any other type of watercraft; mayinclude an aircraft such as an airplane, a spaceship, or any other typeof aircraft; or may include any other transportation apparatus. In oneexample, the transportation apparatus 100 is an electrical automobile.As shown, the transportation apparatus 100 may include a cabin 101 witha volume. However, this is not intended to be limiting. In someembodiments in accordance with the disclosure, the transportationapparatus 100 may not have a volume 101. For example, in one embodiment,the transportation apparatus 100 is an electrical scooter and does nothave a volume.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transportation apparatus 100 may have adashboard 102 with a display 103, for example a LCD screen 103. Thedisplay 103 may be suitable to display one or more information panels,such as the information panels 104 a-n shown in FIG. 1. As also shown,the displays of respective individual information panels on the display103 are separate and independent from each other such that theindividual information panels 104 are displayed at correspondingpositions on the display 103. In this example, instrument panel 104 a isa clustered instrument panel comprising multiple instrument panels andinstrument panel 104 b is an individual instrument panel. Clusteredinstrument panel 104 a will be described in great detail below. Althoughtwo instrument panels are shown in this example as being displayed inthe display 103, this is not intended to be limiting. It should beappreciated the display 103 may display more or fewer instrument panelsthan those shown in FIG. 1 in other examples. As also shown, the numberof displays 103 on the dashboard may also vary in other examples. Forinstance, in one embodiment, there are three displays 103 on thedashboard. In some examples, the display 103 may fill the entiredashboard 102.

In any case, the instrument panels 104 may convey gauge informationrelated to the transportation apparatus 100, such as currentspeed/altitude/direction/wind, current longitude/latitude, distancetraveled, RPM, fuel level, battery level, and/or any other gaugeinformation related to the transportation apparatus 100. In someexamples, information presented in the instrument panels 104 may includeindication information, such as seat belt, airbag, door, trunk,maintenance, safety, window lock, door lock indication information orany other indication information. In some examples, informationpresented in the instrument panels 104 may include navigational or GPSinformation related to navigation of the transportation apparatus 100,such as current street traveled on, map of an area the transportationapparatus 100 is traveling in, the destination information, directioninstructions, traffic condition, estimated arrival time, estimated delaydue to traffic, and/or any other navigation information. In someexamples, information presented in the instrument panels 104 may includecabin information, such as current cabin environment temperature,humidity, wind speed, number of passengers in one or more zones in thecabin and/or any other cabin information. In some examples, informationpresented in the instrument panels 104 may include configurationinformation regarding the transportation apparatus 100, such as seatconfiguration, mirror configuration, battery configuration, driving modeconfiguration, and/or any other configuration. In some examples,information presented in the instrument panels 104 may includenotification information such as incoming call, incoming text message,incoming video chat request, and/or any other notification information.Other examples of information panels 104 are contemplated.

In accordance with the disclosure, the individual information panels 104may be displayed on the display 103 at corresponding positions asdesired by the user(s) 108. In one embodiment, the information panels104 are displayed at their default positions on the display 103. As willbe discussed in further detail below, the present disclosure enables theuser(s) of the transportation apparatus 100 to configure the clusteredinstrument panel 104 to display individual instrument panels layered ontop of each other.

As still shown in FIG. 1, the transportation apparatus 100 may compriseone or more steering wheels 106. Although only one steering wheel 106 isshown in FIG. 1, this is not intended to be limiting. In some examples,the transportation apparatus 100 may include more than one steeringwheel 106. For example, it is contemplated that the transportationapparatus 100 may be an aircraft that comprises at least a main steeringwheel 106 for the main pilot and at least a secondary steering wheel 106for a co-pilot.

As also shown in FIG. 1, one or more users 108 may be arranged to occupytheir corresponding positions. The user(s) 108 may include one or moredrivers that control the movement or navigation of the transportationapparatus 100, one or more passengers, and/or any other type of user108. In this example, the user 108 is a driver that controls the drivingof the transportation apparatus 100.

With the arrangement of instrument panels 104 on the dashboard 102 inthe transportation apparatus 100 having been generally described,attention is now directed to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 generally illustrates theclustered instrument panel 104 a in accordance with one embodiment ofthe disclosure. FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Asshown in FIG. 2, the clustered instrument panel 104 a shown in FIG. 1may comprise individual instrument panels 202, such as instrument panels202 a, 202 b, 202 n−1 and 202 n, layered on each other. In this example,the individual instrument panels 202 included in the clusteredinstrument panel 104 a are substantially circular in shape. However,this is not intended to be limiting. It is contemplated that in someexamples, the individual instrument panels 202 included in theinstrument panel 104 a may be of any regular or irregular shapes. Forinstance, in one embodiment, the individual instrument panels 202 may beof rectangular shapes. It should be also understood, although each ofthe instrument panels 202 in this example is of the same circular shape,this is not intended to be limiting. In some examples, the shapes of theindividual instrument panels 202 included in the clustered instrumentpanel 104 a may be of a variety of different shapes. For example, in oneembodiment of the clustered instrument panel 104, some of the instrumentpanels 202 are of circular shapes, some of the instrument panels 202 areof rectangular shapes, and some of the instrument panels 202 are oftriangular shapes.

As shown, the individual instrument panels 202 included in the clusteredinstrument panel 104 may be arranged to center on a same center point206. However, this is not intended to be limiting. In some otherexamples, the individual instrument panels 202 may not be centered onthe same center point. In any case, the individual instrument panels 202may be arranged increasing in size such that the innermost instrumentpanel 202 a has the smallest size, and the outermost instrument panel202 n has the largest size. As shown, the gradual size differencesbetween the individual instrument panel 202 create gap areas 204, suchas the gap areas 204 a, 204 b and 204 n.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, without limitation, information #N, whichwould otherwise be displayed in an individual instrument panel #N, ispresented in the gap area 204 n between instrument panel 202 n and 202n−1 in the instrument panel 104 a. For example, without limitation,information #N may include speed information regarding thetransportation apparatus 100. As still further illustrated, information#2, which would otherwise be displayed in an individual instrument panel#2, is presented in the gap area 204 b between the instrument panel 202b and instrument panel 202 a. For example, without limitation,information #2 may include battery information regarding thetransportation apparatus 100.

As also illustrated in FIG. 2, information #1, which is presented in thesurface area of the instrument panel 204 a. That is, the entire surfaceof the inner most instrument panel 204 a may be used to displayinformation #1. For example, information #1 may include environmenttemperature information. As should be clear, the number of instrumentpanels 202 that may be included in the clustered instrument panel 104 ain accordance with the disclosure may vary in different examples ashowever desired by the user(s) or the manufacturer of the transportationapparatus 100.

FIG. 3 illustrates one example of the clustered instrument panel 104 ain accordance with the disclosure. It will be described with referenceto FIG. 1. In this example, the clustered instrument panel 104 acomprises three individual instrument panels 302, i.e., instrumentpanels 302 a-c. In this example, instrument panel 302 a is a speedometerthat communicates current speed of the transportation apparatus 100 tothe user(s) of the transportation apparatus 100, e.g., driver(s) and/orthe passenger(s) of the transportation apparatus 100. As shown, thespeedometer 302 a is arranged as the outer most instrument panel in theclustered instrument panel 104 a, and the current reading of the speedis presented in the gap area 304 a. Instrument panel 302 b is a batterylevel meter that communicates the remaining battery power of thetransportation apparatus 100 to the user(s) of the transportationapparatus 100. As shown, the reading of the remaining battery power andits visual representation may be presented in the gap area 304 b.Instrument panel 302 c is a temperature meter that communicates thecurrent environment temperature within the transportation apparatus 100.As shown, the reading of the current environment temperature ispresented in the surface area 304 c of the instrument panel 302 c.

Returning to FIG. 1, as shown, the clustered instrument panel 104 a maybe displayed at a corresponding position in the display 103 along withother instrument panel(s) and/or information panel(s). The defaultdisplay position of the clustered instrument panel 104 a may bedesignated by the manufacturer of the transportation apparatus 100; andthe user(s) of the transportation apparatus 100 (e.g., the driver(s) orthe passenger(s)) may be enabled to configure the default displayposition of the clustered instrument panel 104 a on the display 103.

In some examples, the user(s) of the transportation apparatus 100 may beenabled to selectively configure which ones of the instrument panels maybe added to the clustered instrument panel 104 a. FIG. 4A illustrates aninterface 400 facilitating the user(s) of the transportation apparatus100 to configure the clustered instrument panel 104 a to add one or moreinstrument panels. It will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Theinterface 400 may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, theinterface 400 may be implemented and presented on the display 103 of thedashboard 102. In that example, the interface 400 may be atouch-sensitive interface capable of receiving touch signals from theuser(s) of the transportation apparatus 100. In another example, theinterface 400 may be implemented and presented on a smartphone or tabletassociated with the user(s) of the transportation apparatus 100. Forinstance, the interface 400 may be a screen in an app associated withthe transportation apparatus 100 implemented on the smartphoneassociated with the user(s) of the transportation apparatus 100. Stillin another example, the interface 400 may be implemented and presentedon a computer (e.g., a laptop or desktop computer) associated with theuser(s) of the transportation apparatus 100. In that example, theinterface 400 may be configured to receive user inputs and transmit theuser inputs, either directly or via a server, to the transportationapparatus 100 for configuring the clustered panel 104 a.

In any case, as shown, the interface 400 may present N number ofinstrument panels 402 a-n for user configuration such that they may beincluded and displayed in the clustered instrument panel 104 a. Asshown, the interface 400 may include selection boxes enabling theuser(s) of the transportation apparatus 100 to select individualinstrument panels 402 to be added to the clustered instrument panel 104a. In this example, as illustrated, instrument panel 402 c is selectedby the user(s) of the transportation apparatus 100 to be included in theclustered instrument panel 104 a.

In some embodiments, the interface 400 may be configured to enable theuser(s) to remove one or more instrument panels from the clusteredinstrument panel 104 a. FIG. 4B illustrates this. As shown, in thoseembodiments, the interface 400 may be configured to present theinstrument panels currently included in the clustered instrument panel104 a. As shown, selection boxes may be provided in the interface 400 toenable the user(s) to remove one or more instrument panels from theclustered instrument panel 104 a. In this example, instrument panel 302c is removed from the clustered instrument panel 104 a.

In some embodiments, the interface 400 may be configured to enable theuser(s) of transportation apparatus 100 to arrange the positions of theindividual instrument panels in the cluster instrument panel 104 a. FIG.5 illustrates this. As shown in FIG. 5, arrangement of individualinstrument panels as configured by the user(s) of the transportationapparatus 100 in FIGS. 4A-B may be initially determined by thetransportation apparatus 100 (relevant components for such determinationare described in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7). In those embodiments, Interface 400may enable the user to rearrange the positions of the individualinstrument panels. For example, as shown, the user(s) may be enabled to“swipe” up the instrument panel 402 c, to “swipe” up or down theinstrument panel 402 b, and/or “swipe” down the instrument panel 402 aso that the positions of the individual instrument panels may berearranged as however desired by the user(s) of the transportationapparatus 100.

With the clustered instrument panel on a dashboard of transportationapparatus 100 having been generally described, attention is now directedto FIGS. 6-7, where exemplary implementations of the clusteredinstrument panel are described. FIG. 6 generally illustrates a blockdiagram of a processor 600 configured to effectuate the clusteredinstrument panel in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosure.The processor 600 may be included in the transportation apparatus 100.In some examples, the processor 600 is an electronic control unit of thetransportation apparatus 100. As shown, in some examples, as in thisexample, the processor 600 may comprise a display component 602, aninformation panel display controller 604, and any other components (ifany).

The display component 602 may be configured to effectuate display ofinstrument panels as shown in FIG. 1, which includes clusteredinstrument panel 104 a. In implementations, the display component 602may be configured to receive indications of multiple information panelsfor display in a clustered instrument panel, such as the clusteredinstrument panel 104 a. The information panel display controller 604 maybe configured to receive user signals indicating selections of themultiple instrument panels for inclusion and display in the clusteredinstrument panel 104 a, generating instructions instructing the displaycomponent 602 to display the clustered instrument panel 104 a, and/orperform any other operations.

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of the components shown in FIG. 6. Itwill be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 6. As shown, the IPdisplay controller 604, in this example, comprises a clustered IPdetermination sub-component 702, a current display informationsub-component 704, and any other components (if any). The clustered IPdetermination sub-component 702 may be configured to receive usersignals. The received user signals may indicate user selection ofmultiple instrument panels to be combined as a clustered instrumentpanel, such as the clustered instrument panel 104 a. As shown, the usersignals may be received from various sources, such as a knob 213 (e.g.,dial) on the dashboard 102, a touch pad 714 on a console, a smartphone,a tablet associated with the user(s) of the transportation apparatus100, finger gestures 716 on the display 103, hand gesture captured by acamera in the transportation apparatus 100, voice command 715, mouseclick 717 on an interface presented on a computer (e.g., a laptop)associated with the user(s) of the transportation apparatus 100, and/orany other source. An exemplary interface, i.e., the interface 400enabling the user to initiate the user signal 711 is illustrated in FIG.4. As shown in FIG. 7, the received user signal 711 may indicate tocombine instrument panels #1, #3, and #4 as the clustered instrumentpanel 104 a.

After receiving the user signals, the clustered IP determinationsub-component 702 may request the current display informationsub-component 704 to obtain current display information of theinformation panels requested. The display information obtained by thecurrent display information sub-component 704 may include display sizes,display positions, colors, shapes of the individual instrument panelsrequested on the display 103 and/or any other display informationrelated to the instrument panels requested.

After receiving the current display information of the requestedinformation panels, the current display info subcomponent 704 may beconfigured to determine a layout of the clustered instrument panel 104a. This may involve comparing the sizes of the instrument panelsrequested and determine which of the requested instrument panels may bethe placed as the outer most panel in the cluster instrument panel 104a, which of the requested instrument panels may be placed as the innermost panel in the clustered instrument panel 104 a, and so on. This mayinvolve determining an overall design of the clustered instrument panel104 a based on the colors, shapes, and/or any other visualizationaspects of the instrument panels requested. This may involve determininginformation presentation in the clustered instrument panel 104 in alogical way such that the user(s) of the transportation apparatus 100may conveniently acquire the information through the clusteredinstrument panel 104 a. Other operations of the current display infosubcomponent 704 are contemplated.

In any case, the clustered IP determination sub-component 702 may beconfigured to generate an instruction 712 to instruct the displaycomponent to output the clustered instrument panel 104 a to the display103. The instruction 712 generated by the clustered IP determinationsub-component 702 may include the determined size, positions, layout,color of the requested instrument panels to be arranged for theclustered instrument panel 104 a. In the example above, the instructiongenerated by the clustered IP determination sub-component 702 mayinclude specific positions for the instrument panels requested to beincluded in the clustered instrument panel 104 a, e.g., generate aclustered instrument panel: instrument panel #1 at position 1 (innermost), instrument panel #3 at position 2 (middle), and instrument panel#4 at position 3 (outer most).

The display component 602, in this example, comprises a clustered IPgeneration sub-component 706, an IP acquisition sub-component 708, adisplay output sub-component 710, and any other components (if any). Theclustered IP generation sub-component 706 may be configured to receiveinstructions from the IP display controller 604. After receiving theinstructions, the clustered IP generation sub-component 706 may instructthe IP acquisition sub-component 708 to obtain the individual instrumentpanels indicated by the received instruction. For example, in the caseof the received instructions being “generate a clustered instrumentpanel: instrument panel #1 at position 1 (inner most), instrument panel#3 at position 2 (middle), and instrument panel #4 at position 3 (outermost)”, the IP acquisition sub-component 708 may be instructed to obtaininterface information for the instrument panels #1, #3, and #4. Theinformation obtained by the IP acquisition sub-component 708 may be usedby the clustered IP generation sub-component 702 to present therequested instrument panels in the clustered instrument panel.

After obtaining the interface information for presenting the informationpanels, the clustered IP generation sub-component 706 may be configuredto generate the clustered instrument panel in accordance with theinstruction received. For example, as described above, the receivedinstruction may include specific details as to the design, color,layout, position, and/or any other aspects of the clustered instrumentpanel 104 a to be generated. In that example, the clustered IPgeneration sub-component 706 may generate clustered instrument panel 104a accordingly. In some examples, the clustered IP generationsub-component 706 may be configured to intelligently determine certainaspects of the clustered instrument panel 104 a for generation of thesame. For example, as illustration, in one of those examples, theinstruction received from the IP display controller may not specificallyspecify the size of the overall clutched instrument panel 104 a to bepresented on the display 103. In that example, the clustered IPgeneration sub-component 706 may be configured to determine the size ofthe overall clustered instrument panel 104 a.

The display output sub-component 710 may receive display information fordisplaying the clustered instrument panel 104 a generated by theclustered IP generation sub-component 706. Based on the received displayinformation, the display output sub-component 710 may output theclustered instrument panel 104 a to the display 103.

FIG. 8 illustrates one exemplary method for configuring a clusteredinstrument panel in accordance with the disclosure. The operations ofmethod 800 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In someembodiments, method 800 may be accomplished with one or more additionaloperations not described and/or without one or more of the operationsdiscussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 800are illustrated in FIG. 8 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In some embodiments, method 800 may be implemented in one or moreprocessing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, adigital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuitdesigned to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of method 800 in response to instructions storedelectronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of method 800.

At an operation 802, a clustered instrument panel may be displayed in adisplay of a dashboard in a transportation apparatus. Examples of such aclustered instrument panel are illustrated in FIGS. 2-3. The clusteredinstrument panel may convey gauge information related to thetransportation apparatus, indication information related to thetransportation apparatus, navigational or GPS information related tonavigation of the transportation apparatus, environment information,configuration information regarding the transportation apparatus,notification information, and/or any other information.

At an operation 804, a user signal may be received. The received usersignal may indicate a request to configure the clustered instrumentpanel displayed at operation 802. For example, the received user signalmay request one or more instrument panels not currently displayed in theclustered instrument panel to be displayed in the clustered instrumentpanel. As described above, the source of the user signal received atoperation 804 may vary. Example of such a source may include a knob(e.g., dial) on the dashboard, a touch pad on a console, a smartphone, atablet associated with the user(s) of the transportation apparatus,finger gestures on a touch screen on the dashboard, hand gesturecaptured by a camera in the transportation apparatus, voice controlcommand, mouse click on an interface presented on a computer (e.g., alaptop) associated with the user(s) of the transportation apparatus,and/or any other source.

At an operation 806, an instruction to configure the instrument panel inaccordance with the user signal received at operation 804 is generated.For example, an instruction may be generated to configure the clusteredinstrument panel to include the user requested instrument panel(s). Insome examples, operation 806 may be performed by a IP display controllersubstantially similar to or the same as the IP display controller 604illustrated and described herein.

At an operation 808, the display of the newly-configured instrumentpanel may be effectuated. In some examples, operation 808 may beperformed by a display component substantially similar to or the same asthe display component 602 illustrated and described herein.

Implementations of the invention may be made in hardware, firmware,software, or various combinations thereof. The invention may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, whichmay be read and executed using one or more processing devices. In oneimplementation, machine-readable media may include various mechanismsfor storing and/or transmitting information in a form that can be readby a machine (e.g., a computing device). For example, machine-readablestorage media may include read-only memory, random access memory,magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memorydevices, and other media for storing information, and machine-readabletransmission media may include forms of propagated signals, includingcarrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, and other media fortransmitting information. While firmware, software, routines, orinstructions may be described in the above disclosure in terms ofspecific exemplary aspects and implementations performing certainactions, it will be apparent that such descriptions are merely for thesake of convenience and that such actions in fact result from computingdevices, processing devices, processors, controllers, or other devicesor machines executing the firmware, software, routines, or instructions.

Furthermore, aspects and implementations may be described in the abovedisclosure as including particular features, structures, orcharacteristics, but it will be apparent that every aspect orimplementation may or may not necessarily include the particularfeatures, structures, or characteristics. Further, where particularfeatures, structures, or characteristics have been described inconnection with a specific aspect or implementation, it will beunderstood that such features, structures, or characteristics may beincluded with other aspects or implementations, whether or notexplicitly described. Thus, various changes and modifications may bemade to the preceding disclosure without departing from the scope orspirit of the invention, and the specification and drawings shouldtherefore be regarded as exemplary only, with the scope of the inventiondetermined solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for enabling a user to configure aclustered information panel for display in a transportation apparatus,the method comprising: providing an interface on a computing deviceassociated with the user; presenting, in the interface, to the user, aset of instrument panels including a first instrument panel; receivingan input from the user specifying a selection of the first instrumentpanel for inclusion in the clustered information panel and a firstposition within the clustered information panel where the firstinstrument panel is to be displayed, the input being provided by theuser through the interface; and generating an instruction for displayingthe first instrument panel at the first position in the clusteredinformation panel.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set ofinstrument panels further includes a second instrument panel, andwherein the user input provided through the interface further specifies:a selection of the second instrument panel for inclusion in theclustered information panel and a second position within the clusteredinformation panel where the second instrument panel is to be displayed;and, wherein the method further comprises: generating an instruction fordisplaying the second instrument panel at the second position in theclustered information panel.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the userinput specifying the selection of the first instrument panel forinclusion in the clustered information panel and the first positionwithin the clustered information panel where the first instrument panelis to be displayed is the first user input, and wherein the methodfurther comprises receiving a second user input indicating a request toremove the first instrument panel from the clustered information panel;and removing the first instrument panel from the clustered informationpanel in response to the second user input having been received.
 4. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the first and second instrument panels arearranged to be centered on a same center point of the clusteredinformation panel.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first andsecond instrument panels are arranged in concentric rings of theclustered information panel.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstinstrument panel includes gauge information related to thetransportation apparatus, navigational or GPS information related tonavigation of the transportation apparatus, and/or configurationinformation related to configuration of the transportation apparatus. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the first instrument panel is aspeedometer and the second instrument panel is a tachometer.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the computing device associated with the useris a smartphone or a tablet computer.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first position as specified by the user input corresponds to aninnermost area of the clustered information panel.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first position as specified by the user inputcorresponds to an outermost area of the clustered information panel. 11.The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation apparatus is avehicle, a motorcycle, a scooter or a bicycle.
 12. The method of claim1, further comprising transmitting the instruction to the transportationapparatus via a network.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the set ofinstrument panels presented to the user in the interface are notcurrently displayed in the clustered information panel, and wherein themethod further comprises: presenting the clustered information panelcurrently displayed in the transportation apparatus in the interface tothe user.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of instrumentpanels presented to the user in the interface are currently displayed inthe clustered information panel, and wherein the method furthercomprises: presenting the clustered information panel currentlydisplayed in the transportation apparatus in the interface to the user.